Job Title: Graduate Trainee – SEND and Inclusion
Location: County Hall, Northallerton
Grade: E, F, G
Salary: 1-6 months £19,698, rising to £20,493 after 6 months and then £22,627 for the final 12 months of the scheme.
Contract: 2 years fixed term position as part of the NYCC graduate programme
Hours: Full time, 37 hours per week
We now have an exciting opportunity for a graduate to join our SEND and Inclusion Teams as a Graduate Trainee – SEND and Inclusion Trainee.
The Inclusion service is made up of a range of services responsible for delivering statutory and non-statutory local authority functions for SEND and Inclusion including:
SEND Hubs – multi disciplinary teams based in localities with the function of early identification of children with special educational needs and providing support, advice, training and direct interventions in schools and settings to meet need. The Hubs are made up of a range of professionals including therapists, educational psychologists, specialist teachers and practitioners. The SEN Caseworkers within the hubs are responsible for undertaking the statutory assessment process for children with SEND.
Disabled Children’s Services – specialist team of social workers supporting children with disabilities and their families together with 3 Children’s Resource Centres providing overnight short breaks for families
Central services including HI/VI sensory - Occupational therapy, medical education, attendance and enforcement, specialist careers and Independence teams
SEND Strategic Planning teams responsible for the strategic development of SEND educational provision across North Yorkshire to ensure it is appropriate and has capacity to meet need across the 0-25 years age range
The service delivers a broad range of functions to support children and young people, families and partner organisations to promote inclusion.
A graduate would have the opportunity to gain valuable experience of a range of professional roles and responsibilities across SEND and Inclusion together with an understanding of the complex legislative framework. This would enable the graduate to develop further experience and understanding of:
- Statutory responsibilities of the council to keep educational provision for children and young people with SEND under review and associated planning processes
- SEND Finance and budgets
- The identification and assessment of children with SEN and/or disabilities
- Enhanced understanding of SEND designations
- Legislation, and routes of appeal
- Co-production and partnership working to improve outcomes for children and service developments
- Research and evaluation of specific areas of work at locality, county or national level, identifying areas for change and innovation
- Roles of specific professionals in the SEND Hubs, central teams and disabled children’s services
A graduate working in such a diverse environment would have the opportunity to hone their aspirations for their future career in children’s services whether that be SEND, Inclusion, social care or working in schools,
The graduate would be working in a service that performs highly and welcomes change and innovation, achieving a positive local Area SEND Inspection outcome in 2016. A recent Peer Review undertaken in 2020 highlighted an ambitious and innovative culture as illustrated below:
- There is a strong and clear council vision for children’s and SEND services and outcomes, shared across Members and Officers. The vision is clear and simple and is underpinned with a strong sense of what is right for children. Members described officers as committed and having pride in their work and the working relationship between officers and members is good.
- An openness to new ideas and external scrutiny. You have commissioned work with ISOS, the Staff College and this peer challenge. All are examples of your commitment to learn from the perspectives of others in order to develop your services for children.
- Innovation and continuous improvement is evident, as is the courage to be bold. You are continuously innovating and seeking new ways of doing things and are not afraid to be bold if the prize is one, which will make the biggest difference: the Free School in Selby, PRU re-configuration and Locality Hubs would be examples of bold and courageous action.
The staff team are ambitious and working relationships between managers and Heads of Service are strong, creating an ethos of openness and an invitation to both challenge and support. There are strong opportunities for professional development, ensuring that staff remain at cutting edge of practice. Supported by the NYCC Performance and Intelligence team, there is a strong focus on performance, trends and the identification of corrective action. All staff understand their contribution to the wider vision of the service and take responsibility for their contribution to the outcomes of the service and for children. Graduates would also be embraced within this culture with clear work plans, targets and professional development needs identified and supported throughout their employment with the service.
The role undertaken by the graduate would be cross service to maximise the building of knowledge and experiences across an education and care perspective. The work plan would be negotiated with the graduate taking into account their career aspirations, professional and personal development needs and prior experience. This would ensure that the graduate has the best opportunity to secure required experience, skills and knowledge to secure their preference in terms of future career destinations whilst making an active contribution to the work of the Service.
The graduate would be provided with the opportunity for time limited ‘placements’ across specific areas of the service, tailored to their interests and career aspirations. The programme would provide a holistic experience of the range of responsibilities and functions of Children and Young People’s Services to support SEND and Inclusion, whilst providing the opportunity for more extensive experience in particular fields. Opportunities could include:
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Contributing to the review of educational provision for children with SEND at strategic level
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Research , analysis and evaluation to inform future developments and evidence impact of services
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Direct work with children and young people with SEND via the Hubs and disabled children’s services
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Shadowing specific roles in the Service
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Statutory assessment of children and young people with SEND
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Experience of legal aspects of SEND, appeals and tribunal
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Leading on innovative projects and workstreams
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Co-production – working with parents/carers to ensure their voice contributes to service developments
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Strengthening locality based partnerships with schools via the Locality Boards and ensuring their plans for improvement are actioned
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Placements in education or care settings to broaden experience of services to children and young people. This could include direct placements in schools, children resource centres.
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Responsibility for planning and delivering specific projects, working under their own initiative but with support from their line manager and mentor.
The placements would be approximately 2-3 months duration. This will ensure that the graduate has time to build up knowledge of the service area and to experience the work undertaken within the team.
Each placement would be underpinned by an individual plan detailing responsibilities, work functions together with expected skills, knowledge and experience that can be evidenced at the end of the placement period. This will ensure that there is a balance between undertaking the role, reflecting on learning and identifying individual professional developments. During the placement period the graduate will be asked to reflect on practice and performance of the team, to research and identify areas for improvement and innovation.
The graduate will receive the support of a mentor assigned from the placement area to ensure they have informal support as well as formal direction from their line manager.
Essential criteria for this Graduate opportunity: Degree in social care/ education or similar
Desirable criteria for this role: SEND or Inclusion related
Start your journey to a great career and join us as a graduate.
Key dates:
Closing date: Sunday 21st February 2021
Interview date: W/C 15th March 2021
Key documents:
Job Description / Person Specification.pdf
Total Rewards Brochure.pdf
Visit our dedicated campaign page to learn more about our fantastic Graduate Programme and hear from our recent Graduates.
If this role sounds like it could be for you, and you would like to gain more information, please call Jane Le Sage (Assistant Director Inclusion) on 07970 051 976 or contact by email: Jane.LeSage@northyorks.gov.uk for an informal conversation.
Enhanced Level DBS Disclosure is required for appointment to this post, this cost will be met by the employer.
NYCC are committed to directly recruiting staff and will not accept applications nor services from agency suppliers in respect of our vacancies.
We are committed to meeting the needs of our diverse community and aim to have a workforce reflecting this diversity. We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.